Every arts organization eventually deals with a prospect that is met with equal parts anxiety and excitement. The fateful day when they formally join the ranks of the non-profit world. Now here at the Bridge, we’ve been 501(c)(3) compliant since the beginning. However, until this year, we operated under the umbrella of another charitable organization.

Back in September, we began the process of filing our own application for 501(c)(3) status with somea whole lot an enormous amount of help from a few good folks at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, here in New York. We woke up from our long administrative slumber to discover that it was April and that our slow dance with the IRS would eat up a healthy portion of our eighth season. An unfortunate byproduct, to be sure, but one that we were happy to bear in order to win our status as a stand-alone not-for-profit organization.

Our eighth year certainly won’t be void of the creative, however. We couldn’t pass up an opportunity to follow up our award-winning FringeNYC run of Greenland with another festival turn this year. More on that very, very soon.

In the meantime, many, many thanks to Olivier Plessis and Katherine DeMamiel for their legal acumen and eternal patience. We wish we could compensate your efforts with more than our enduring gratitude, but…well, you know…not-for-profit.